In my case 8000 steps (around 5.5 km) is something I am able to pull every day. Having a dog makes it more fun.
I've tried also 10000 steps for a while but it was non-practical, just couldn't fit that extra mile.
During the 6-week streak of 8000+ step days, it felt as if a switch 'flipped' and I went from a plateau of 90kg to 85kg (what I saw as a target) and surprisingly am able to maintain it at that level for a few years now, without almost any changes in dietary or activity habits, even throughout the 2020 lockdown.
I'm a typical developer/couch potato, I do not avoid occasional junk food, beer, extra slice of cake etc. I try not to eat late, except for nuts and seeds. I wholeheartedly recommend Turkish? (white, large sort) unsalted sunflower seeds, which have nutritious benefits according to Dr.Google, plus it definitely helps the next morning.
There are Arwa Damon and Clarissa Ward. Then another female anchor, who people-smuggled herself through Africa with a hidden camera. They are all serious badasses, I don't even watch movies that tense.
There will always be another storm season for Chris Cuomo and AC. :-)
Take a look at Channel101.com, it seems like this show originally was screened there. The idea is people submit 5 minute tv pilots and only continue making them if the live channel101 audience votes to renew them for another episode.
Almost everything on channel101, even now, still feels like quality sketch comedy. Some of the best stuff though is Dan Harmon's original shows - though there are almost too many to watch http://www.channel101.com/talent/108
Aside for stupid memes, every now and then there is a story that temporarily cures my impostor syndrome / helps my everyday struggle seem like a fun day at the beach compared to crap some (fellow 3rd world) developers have to go through to make a living.
I've bought recently one of those cheap wrist bands.
One of the most important features for me was ability to measure sleep quality in terms of "daily hours of deep sleep," whatever that scientifically means.
Over the course of several months, I've been able to identify things which affect my sleep quality:
* eating late: bad
* drinking late: one beer... not really that bad
* answering work emails until midnight: REALLY BAD (even while drinking soothing chamomile tea during soft rain)
etc.
I'm trying as reduce as many "bad" things as possible as I can feel a huge difference between 30 mins and 3+ hrs of deep sleep, as measured by the device.
I feel much better during the day, can work more productively and, most importantly, my "fuse" seems to be much longer.
Probably best $30 ever spent.
(still missing weekend code binges of early 20s, though :/ )
What is the brand of the device? I am interested in getting one. I'm struggling today after little sleep, but I would also like insight on how much deep sleep I am getting.
I’ve found that it boils down to either excess energy not burned off, or not enough calories to slow the mind down yet. So if my mind is racing a bit I get up, eat something small and light on the stomach like a banana or cereal in the dark without tv or the phone. I use some of this time to meditate as well.
Also getting enough sun or vitamin d helps. Trying to burn off as much energy before my mind has a chance to race before the end of the evening.
One more independent variable you might want to test: when you go to bed. I've found that the earlier I go to bed, the higher quality sleep (I'm sure there is a point at which I would begin getting worse sleep, but I haven't reached it). I've tried anywhere from 9PM to 3AM. 9PM is a little too early to do if you aren't trying to "catch up" on sleep but I've been getting great results going to sleep at 10PM every night. I usually fall asleep around 10:30 or 11PM and wake up naturally to the sun around 7-8AM.
Never feel tired at work anymore, but I do actually start getting tired around 8-9PM when the caffeine from work starts wearing off. The energy and focus is great
Agreed. I get up every morning around 6am. Some mornings I get up at 5am for a group workout thing, but it's mostly around 6am. I'm normally in bed right before 10 because I have found out through experience that I need ~7-8 hours of sleep/night.
I can shift this a bit, say go to bed around 11 or 12 and sleep later, but I am not nearly as productive in the mornings then. If I push this more extreme and say go to bed at 2-3am, even if I sleep until 10 or 11, I am wrecked the next day. I actually feel worse than if I only got 6 hours of sleep instead, but went to bed earlier.
I actually find that a couple of hours of coding on personal projects from 9 to 11 (but not later) actually has a calming effect on me that increases sleep quality.
Mind you - I don't have hard data to support this!
Word of warning, the sleep trackers on the market are not very accurate for tracking sleep phases. Folks like Matthew Walker are pretty adamant about this. You have to measure your electric brain waves to know for sure, not approximations from heartbeat, movement, etc.
My Oura and Fitbit sometimes give wildly different sleep phase readings for the same night. Also, each will sometimes give arbitrarily unexpected readings that leave me scratching my head.
As someone mentioned, those trackers aren't that accurate.
However, if you think you don't get much deep sleep, for the love of everything, get tested for sleep apnea. A home sleep study is quick and easy if you have reasonable insurance, and if you do have apnea, getting it treated could literally change your life (or even save it).
Do you think there are any shortcuts to the months of experimenting? I'd also be interested to learn how you validated your hypothesis (one night of sleep, a few nights of emails at midnight?)
It didn't take me months to figure it out (not OP), you might get some insights quickly. Get one of the fitness trackers(Fitbit/MiBand/apple watch) and wear the watch for a week, then take a note of the things you're doing in the evenings and see how if affects your baseline from the previous week. For me, exercise was a clear winner on the first day - I spend less time awake in bed, sleep longer and higher quality _every_ day I exercise. Others, like working late, or playing video games late took longer to figure out.
re 'answering work emails until midnight: REALLY BAD' - true for any screen time. Night shift/f.lux or glasses with a blue light filter may help a little with that
I don't understand why you got down voted. I use also a blue light filter, and it helps. Of course, if you look up stuff until 2AM...there is no device helping you there, except for a battery off! :)
Back then, it often made a huge usability difference if you optimized in asm critical inner loops or other time-consuming external methods, which would be called from Clipper, Turbo Pascal/C, Modula-2 or alike. TSR-loaded "Norton Guides" were indispensable. Good times. :)
Applause from Slovenia to Buffers' Croatian developer! I'm sad to see actual reduction with this new 3.0 salary scheme. One would also need to factor in another 10-12% loss this year, which is depreciation of USD vs. EUR (HRK)
I've tried also 10000 steps for a while but it was non-practical, just couldn't fit that extra mile.
During the 6-week streak of 8000+ step days, it felt as if a switch 'flipped' and I went from a plateau of 90kg to 85kg (what I saw as a target) and surprisingly am able to maintain it at that level for a few years now, without almost any changes in dietary or activity habits, even throughout the 2020 lockdown.
I'm a typical developer/couch potato, I do not avoid occasional junk food, beer, extra slice of cake etc. I try not to eat late, except for nuts and seeds. I wholeheartedly recommend Turkish? (white, large sort) unsalted sunflower seeds, which have nutritious benefits according to Dr.Google, plus it definitely helps the next morning.